Nasdaq slides, Dow drifts

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks were mixed in late trade Tuesday, with blue chips getting a boost from lower oil prices and techs losing steam ahead of Intel's quarterly report, expected after the close.

The Dow Jones Industrial average (up 15.94 to 12,572.02, Charts) added a few points with around 40 minutes left in the session, after ending last Friday's session at an all-time high.

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The S&P 500 (down 0.25 to 1,430.48, Charts) was little changed, after ending the previous session at its highest point in more than 6 years. The Nasdaq (down 8.17 to 2,494.65, Charts) composite lost roughly 0.3 percent, after ending the previous session at its highest point in nearly six years.

All financial markets were closed Monday for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Stocks rose last week in response to falling oil prices.

Oil prices continued to slide Tuesday, with U.S. light crude oil for February delivery falling $1.78 to $51.21 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices fell after Saudi Arabia's oil minister said that OPEC production cuts were effective and there was no need for an emergency meeting of the oil cartel.

Oil prices have been sliding since the start of the year, and while that's been a positive for the economy and the inflation outlook, it's been a mixed blessing for the stock market.

"The drop in oil prices in January has helped the rally continue, but has also hurt energy shares," said Timothy Ghriskey, chief investment officer at Solaris Asset Management.

Investors were also a little skittish Tuesday ahead of a slew of key earnings reports due later in the week, Ghriskey said, and amid continued uncertainty about the strength of the economy.

Intel (Charts) reports earnings after the close. The chipmaker is expected to have earned 25 cents, versus 40 cents a year ago.

Other companies due to report quarterly results this week include Apple (up $2.09 to $96.71, Charts), IBM (up $1.34 to $100.68, Charts), GE (up $0.15 to $38.04, Charts) and Citigroup (up $0.25 to $54.63, Charts).

Earnings are currently on track to have risen 9 percent in the fourth quarter, according to Thomson Financial. That's a blended figure, combining reported and expected earnings.

Investors also took in the morning's economic news. The NY Empire State index, a regional read on manufacturing, fell to 9.1 in January from 22 the previous month. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com thought it would fall to 20 in the month.

Banks Wells Fargo (up $0.81 to $36.32, Charts) and U.S. Bancorp (up $0.20 to $35.75, Charts) both reported quarterly earnings before the start of trading Tuesday that rose from a year ago. Wells Fargo's results met analysts' estimates, while those of US Bancorp were short of estimates.

Among other stock movers Tuesday, Symantec (down $2.50 to $17.98, Charts) slumped 7 percent in active Nasdaq trading after the web and network security software maker warned that fiscal third quarter and 2007 profit will miss forecasts.

Cisco Systems (down $0.77 to $28.15, Charts) slipped after Prudential downgraded it to "neutral weight" from "overweight," citing limited room for upside surprises in 2007, according to Reuters.

GE (up $0.15 to $38.04, Charts) said its buying the aerospace unit of Smiths Group for $4.8 billion in cash.

A number of stocks and sectors reacted to the ongoing decline in oil prices.

Companies that directly benefit from lower energy prices rose, including airlines, with the Amex Airline (Charts) index gaining 2.3 percent.

The Dow Jones Transportation (up 101.67 to 4,861.94, Charts) average also gained on the lower oil prices, adding 1.6 percent.

The decline in oil prices weighed on oil service stocks, with Exxon Mobil (down $1.15 to $71.51, Charts), Valero Energy (down $0.84 to $49.73, Charts) and Sunoco (down $1.15 to $58.68, Charts) all lower.

In other news, an independent panel said BP (down $1.59 to $63.05, Charts) failed to stress safety at its U.S. plants prior to a 2005 Texas City explosion that killed 15.

COMEX gold fell $1 to $625.90 an ounce.

That sent metal and mining stocks lower, including Goldcorp (down $0.50 to $25.69, Charts) and Newmont Mining (down $0.83 to $42.38, Charts). The Amex Gold Bugs (down $3.58 to $316.54, Charts) index lost 1.2 percent.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers beat winners by a narrow margin on volume of 1.22 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners topped advancers by eight to seven on volume of 1.84 billion shares.

Treasury prices rose, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.74 percent from 4.77 percent late Friday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar rose versus the yen and slipped versus the euro.

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